A useful feature provided on some scanners enables a user electronically to send a scanned document to a specific receiver destination. Communications protocols such as Hewlett-Packard's JetSend.TM. technology can be employed to make such communication possible. JetSend.TM. acts as on-board "intelligence," allowing various devices to communicate directly with other JetSend.TM. -enabled devices. The JetSend.TM. technology resides in device firmware or PC software. It allows two devices to connect, negotiate data types, provide status updates about device operation and exchange information without user intervention. The JetSend.TM. protocol can be built into any information appliance, regardless of device function.
Network scanner and printer combinations are designed to increase productivity and reduce cost. Working together, the two devices can eliminate the time spent waiting to use a busy fax machine or for interoffice mail to arrive, and they can reduce the use of expensive delivery services to send and receive paper-based information.
JetSend.TM. technology is available on scanning devices such as the HP Network ScanJet 5.TM. scanner. The Network ScanJet 5.TM. has the ability to send information directly to a JetSend.TM. -enabled receiving device anywhere in the world. To send information, the scanner communicates with the receiving device, and the two devices then negotiate their capabilities. Information is sent and then printed or displayed, depending on the type of receiving device. The information is exchanged between the two devices directly, without user intervention. The devices themselves determine the best-possible outcome. The network scanner's easy-to-use interface contributes to the simple and efficient JetSend.TM. communication process. From the front control panel of the scanner, the user enters the address of the receiving device and scans the document at a rate of 15 pages per minute. By pushing the green "go" button, information is sent directly to a JetSend.TM.-enabled receiving device.
Another JetSend.TM. -enabled device is the HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM.. The 9100C Digital Sender.TM. is a workgroup-communication device that converts paper documents into digital form. Documents can be sent directly from the HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM. device to any e-mail address, network fax, HP JetSend.TM. -enabled device, network printer or personal computer. The HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM. -enables users to easily integrate and distribute paper-based documents into the electronic workplace.
The HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM. includes an interface having a computer-like keyboard which allows users to manually enter receiving device information at the device. Similar to sending e-mail from a PC, the HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM. enables users to type e-mail addresses or to queue personalized e-mail addresses or distribution lists from a customized address book, allowing users to send paper-based documents as e-mail messages, in color or monochrome. By leveraging the global Internet e-mail infrastructure, the HP 9100C Digital Sender.TM. is an efficient and cost-effective alternative to such typical paper distribution methods as fax and courier.
One limitation of devices such as the Network ScanJet 5.TM. and the 9100C Digital Sender.TM. is in the transmission of individual files to multiple heterogeneous receivers. With these devices, the respective receiver destinations sometimes require different data formats. For example, a fax machine may expect 300 dots-per-inch (dpi) single bit-per-pixel (bpp) data, while a printer may be capable of 600-dpi single bpp data, and a PC may want 300-dpi 8-bpp data. In such instances, the original document must be scanned separately for each receiver destination. If a user wants to send a document to a printer, a fax machine, and an e-mail address, the user scans and sends the document three separate times. Furthermore, no new transmission can begin until the previous transmission has been completed.
If the user has even a few destinations for one document, the process of serially re-scanning and re-transmitting for each destination can be cumbersome and time consuming. This is especially true for multi-page documents, since each page of the document would have to be scanned for each receiver destination. Therefore, the need exists to provide a more user-friendly scanner that simplifies the task of sending a job to one or more heterogeneous receivers for the user.